All Great Power
by BlueWillow29
Summary: Jennifer Witwicky's life crashes when her bestfriends and teammates are killed in a overseas base attack, her little brother's first car turns out to be an alien robot, and to top it off, these crazy government people threaten her family and dog. She gets sucked into the start of an adventure that will change her for the rest of her life. For better or worse. Eventual Lennox/OC
1. Before, Began, Begone

_Before time began, there was the Cube. . ._

_We know not where it comes from,_

_only that it holds the power_

_to create worlds and fill them with life._

_That is how our race was born._

_For a time, we lived in harmony,_

_but **like all great power,**_

_**some wanted it for good, others for evil.**_

_And so began the war,_

_a war that ravaged our planet_

_until it was consumed by death,_

_and the Cube was lost_

_to the far reaches of space._

_We scattered across the galaxy,_

_hoping to find it and rebuild our home,_

_searching every star, every world._

_And just when all hope seemed lost,_

_message of a new discovery drew us_

_to an unknown planet called Earth._

_But we were already too late. . . ._

* * *

A pair of Osprey military helicopters flew high over the hot desert sand in Qatar. One carried a seven-man special ops team.

"Oh, man, after five months of this," one of the men, Figuero, or fondly called Fig, said, "I can't wait to get a little taste of home. A plate of mama's alligators étouffée." He scrunched up his face at the thought of his mama's home cooking, "Mmm'hmm."

Will Lennox, the captain of the team, looked over at Fig in disgust as he chewed his gum.

"You've been talking about barbecued 'gators and crickets for the last two weeks," Robert Epps told Fig, pointing at him warningly, "I'm never going to your mama's house, Fig. I promise."

"But Bobby, Bobby," Fig protested. "'Gators are known to have the most succulent meat," he said before he started rattling off in Spanish.

"I understand," Epps said rolling his eyes as Figuero was talking rapidly. Epps mumbled some nonsense that sounded like Spanish before rolling his eyes again. He cut off Fig, who was still rambling, " English, please."

"English," Lennox said with finality in his hoarse voice, "I mean, how many times have we," he shook his head repeatedly, "We don't speak Spanish. I told you that."

"Why you got to ruin it for me, man? That's my heritage," Fig said defensively before once again launching off

"OK, go with the Spanish," Lennox said, waving his hand dismissively. "Whatever."

Turning his head from Fig, he caught the smiles and laughs the other men, Don, Rodney, Wayne, and Jim, were trying to hide. Will had to stifle one of his own. It was way too easy to mess with Fig. Way too easy.

"Hey, you guys remember weekends?" Don asked in his New York accent, smacking his gum. He grinned at his teammates despite his filthy face "Huh? The Sox at Fenway. Cold hotdog and a flat beer."

"Perfect day," Fig said, almost to himself. He looked over at Lennox, "What about you, Captain? You got a perfect day?"

Lennox leaned his head back against the metal siding of the chopper, looking up. A grin came over his face and he opened his mouth to answer.

"I think I know what his idea of a perfect day is," Epps said slyly, cutting him off. Epps raised and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at his captain. Will looked around at his men, dreading their answer. They had somehow gotten in their head that he liked Jenn more than an brother-sister relationship like the rest of the team. They teased him about it mercilessly, but never Jenn. They wouldn't dare.

"Jennnn," Fig drew out her name as the rest of the men laughed.

"Jennifer and William sitting in tree-" Jim and Rodney started to sing in the back of the chopper.

"Ah, shut up!" Will growled out. He felt heat rise in his ears.

"Oh, look at him," Don said, pointing at Will, "he's blushing!"

"He's adorable!" his men all cried. Will felt heat rise in his face. The men laughed, including the two-man crew of the chopper. More heat rose onto his face.

"Alright, alright," he grumbled hoarsely again, "enough!"

"Hey, you remember Jenny flew out this morning," Epps said after they had all quieted down.

"Yeah, that's right," Rodney said from the back, "What was it she said she was going home early for?"

"She wanted to surprise her brother. Took her weeks to convince Colonel Sharp to let her go with the early transport. And that's only because she didn't go home last time we all did," Will told them, looking out the window, silently begging for them to arrive at the base faster. He had been embarrassed enough.

* * *

Later in the day, a black helicopter hovered along in a empty desert. Over in the command station at SOCCENT airbase, 10 miles away, a operator leaned back in his computer chair and faced his colonel.

"Colonel Sharp, we have an inbound unidentified infiltrator, 10 miles out," he said. Colonel Sharp walked over and leaned over him to look at the blimps on the computer screen. The colonel put his headset microphone to his mouth.

"Unidentified aircraft, you are in restricted US military airspace. Squawk I-dent and proceed east out of the area," Sharp said into his mic.

He walked over to a desk and picked up a radio, holding it up to his mouth, "Raptors one and two, snap to heading two-five-zero to intercept. Bogie is in the weeds ten miles out, not squawking." Almost instantly, two military fighter jets took off the runway.

A tense minute passed in the command station as the blimp on the radar screen blinked closer.

"Unidentified aircraft," Colonel Sharp continued, "we _will_ escort you to US SOCCENT airbase. If you do not comply, we _will_ use deadly force."

One of the Raptors sent back the identification of the helicopter. Another computer operator in the command center walked up to the Colonel. "Sir, says here 4500 X was shot down three months ago. Afghanistan."

"That's got to be a mistake," Sharp mumbled. "Check again, then recheck," he ordered, handing the paper back.

"I did, sir," the operator confirmed, then continued, "A friend of mine was on that chopper," he said looking down sadly.

The Colonel put his headset microphone back to his mouth, "Unidentified aircraft, we will escort you to US SOCCENT airbase."

"Radar, where's the inbound?" he addressed the first computer operator who had been constantly watching the aircraft's blip on his screen come closer to the base.

"Bogie's five miles out, sir," he told the colonel.

* * *

A chat screen popped up on a older model of a laptop in a rather empty room. The computer let out a series of alert noises that triggered a young, brunette woman to bolt up in her bed. She scrambled off, kicking blankets and sheets in every direction, and startling a little dog. She skirted around her unpacked military backpacks, jumped over a still stuffed duffel bag and fell into her computer chair. She rolled in it across the room until she stopped herself with her arms on her desk. She hurriedly clicked the 'Accept' on the new window that said '_Video-C__hat request from SOCCENT Military Base'. _Immediately, the sweaty face of a young and handsome black man popped up on her screen.

"Epps!" she exclaimed excitedly, waving.

He smiled slightly and said, "Hey, Jenny! How was your flight home?"

"Eh, I give the pilot five stars, but not yet worthy of a pair of Air Force wings," she finished with a mockingly serious tone.

Epps chuckled at her and opened his mouth to say something else, but he was suddenly pushed out of view and replaced with the handsome, sweaty face of another Air Force soldier with a backwards baseball cap on his head.

"Ah! My lady!" Will Lennox grinned at her, mockingly bowing his head.

"Hey, soldier," she simply stated before Epps's head popped back up in view of the camera.

He glared at Lennox with a joking glint in his eyes, "You're gonna regret that one."

"Whatever."

Epps picked himself fully off the ground with a grunt. He started to walk away backwards and talk at the same time, "I'll talk to you later, Jenny! Love you!"

On the small screen, Jennifer smiled at the two. "Later, Epps. Love you too, you big oaf!"

He flashed her and Lennox a sly grin. "You two have fun, now...I'll be outside, guarding..." he trailed off and then dropped the camouflage material behind him. Will, ignoring him, stared ahead at the computer screen which showed Jennifer shaking her head.

"So, how was you guys' mission?" she asked before a concerned look crossed her face, "You're kinda hoarse. Are you okay?"

"I'm good, just a dry throat. Everything went fine on the recon. Ran into a few strays on the way back to the pick-up site, but nothing serious," he shrugged, "How was the two days on base without your favorite group of men?"

Jenn rolled her eyes at his fake inflated ego. "Eh, not that much action. I stayed around Mahfouz more than anything else. That boy plays a mean game of hopscotch, by the way." Will laughed at the thought. "Helped with gear some. Just some basic jobs. Anything to keep away from the Lagoon," she finished, shuddering. Will had to chuckle at her again.

"How was your flight home this morning then?"

"The flight was fine. Security was a utter headache, as always. I swear that they checked every single pocket on both me and my bags," she complained.

Will nodded understandingly and leaned forward on his crossed arms. "Oh, right, and dodging both grenades and gunfire is barely a hassle," he said sarcastically.

She gave him a look and the two held a short stare-down before Will's face broke into a crooked smile and they both started to laugh.

* * *

"4500 X. Something's not right," Colonel Sharp said out loud as the helicopter expertly landed on base.

"_Bogie's on the deck," _came a voice from the radio.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the computer operator who had constantly watched the radar said. He tried clicking in a few computer commands, "Radar's jammed." He tried a few more clicks and the screen went haywire.

"It's coming from the chopper," he stated grimly and picked up his phone, preparing to send the alarming message.

Suddenly and without warning, all the power went out in the computer command center.

* * *

Jennifer slapped her computer a few times as the picture blinked, "Will?"

"Jenn?" she heard him say on the other end of the line. His own confused face flashed on her screen a few times before flashing back to a fuzzy screen.

"Hey, Jenn! If you can hear me, I'll be going home in a few days. See you soon! Lo-" she heard him yell over the connection before her chat screen went completely black. Jenn slapped her computer a few more times before giving up.

"Great," she muttered under her breath. She leaned back in her squeaky computer chair and surveyed her room. Her eyes landed on her bulging military backpacks and duffel bag.

She pursed her lips, _'Well, they aren't gonna unpack themselves,' _she thought. She continued to move her light green eyes around her room until they landed on an adorable chihuahua, "Hey, Mojo," the small dog perked up at his name, "you wanna unpack my bags for me, baby?" Mojo settled back down on the foot of her bed and closed his eyes. "Right, didn't think so," she smiled fondly at him.

Someone pounded on her bedroom door. "Jenn? Sweetie, you up?"

"Yeah, Dad," she said loudly through the door.

"Your coming with me to pick Sam up from school right?" he asked her, peeking his head in.

"Yeah, but," she glanced over at him slyly, "You got your cash?"

He looked at the floor and raised one finger, warningly, "The deal was o_nly if, _he gets his A. _Only _if."

"Come on, Dad," she chuckled, "You know as well as I do that this is more than just a car for Sam," she stood up and moved over to her bed, picking up a sleepy Mojo and cuddling him.

"Yeah, I know," he had to agree with her, "I know."

She handed the chihuahua over to him and patted her father's arm, "Give me three to get dressed and I'll meet you downstairs."

* * *

"MH-53 pilot, power down now," Colonel Sharp said into his microphones as he stared at the grounded and surrounded chopper, "Have your crew step out or we _will _kill you."

The helicopter's top propeller suddenly stopped moving and all the props folded back. Then, for a few heartbeats, nothing moved.

"Hold your fire! Stand by to engage!" came a command from the soldiers surrounding the aircraft.

The black military helicopter suddenly folded in on itself and tucked in parts while other gears and joints pushed out. Whirling and pressured air noises came from the moving, _living, _conglomerate of metal parts. Before all the soldiers' eyes, it _transformed_. The soldiers began to fire madly at the monster as it stood up and began to fire back at them. It began to flip tanks with its arms and bright red eyes scanned the entire base.

Epps came running out of nowhere, flinging his arms wildly and screaming like a mad man to anyone who would listen, "They bombed the antenna farm! We're under attack!"

The metal creature released an energy wave of sorts. Tanks, aircrafts, and jeeps all flipped through the air as glass on all the buildings and vehicles shattered. Soldiers ran like ants, some grabbing guns and ammo; others running for cover. They attacked in groups, but other than that, no order remained on the airbase.

Lennox gathered his men in a rush. They all grabbed their always ready guns and supplies and followed him, running, for cover. Epps, however, got tripped and laid on the dusty ground right in front of the walking monster. He aimed his camera equipped hand-held sight up at the metal monster's face.

Will corralled his men and Mahfouz behind a few tanks, "Here, hide here," he ordered breathlessly.

"What the..." Epps started as he looked through his sight. He scrambled off the ground and took off running as he saw one of the monster's guns aimed right at his face.

"Epps, let's go!" Will yelled as he grabbed onto his friend's shirt and drug him into the dark desert, away from the deadly chaos.

* * *

"Okay, Mr. Witwicky, you're up."

Toward the back of the class, Sam slowly rose to his feet and scrambled, trying to open his bag. He approached the table in front of the class and dumped his bag's contents on it. Several old instruments tumbled out and he timidly looked up at the class to find that all eyes were on him.

"Sorry, I gotta a lot of stuff," he mumbled, shuffling papers and objects around on the table.

"Watch," the teacher monotonously commanded his students from the sidelines.

"Okay," Sam started, setting his shoulders back, "For my family," he was cut off by a paper football flying up and hitting him in the face.

"Who did... Who did that?" the history teacher gaped from his desk, "People! Responsibility," he scolded his class, half heartedly.

"Okay," Sam started again, determined, "So, for my family genealogy report, I decided to do it on my great-great-grandfather, who was a famous man, Captain Archibald Witwicky. Very famous explorer," Sam held up a finger, "In fact, he was one of the first to explore the Arctic Circle, which is a big deal. In 1897, he took 41 brave sailors straight into the Arctic Shelf." Sam then ditched his report and went on with the real purpose he had in mind, "So that's the story, right? And here we have some of the basic instruments and tools used by 19th-century seamen."

The class laughed when he said 'seaman' and Mr. Martin held up a sign that said in bold, black letters 'QUIET'.

"This here is the quadrant, which you can get for 80 bucks," he said, holding up an instrument for the class to see, "It's all for sale, by the way," he motioned at the table. He picked up another instrument, "Like, the sextant here. $50 for this, which is a bargain." He picked up a fragile pair of glasses, "These are pretty cool. These are my grandfather's glasses. I haven't quite gotten them appraised yet, but they've seen many cool things."

"Are you going to sell me his liver?" his teacher commented, "Mr. Witwicky, this isn't show and sell. It's the 11th grade. I don't think your grandfather would be particularly proud of what you're doing."

Sam looked over at him, "I know, I'm sorry. I just, you know, this is all going towards my car fund." He turned back around to face the class, "You can tell your folks. It's on eBay. I take PayPal. Cold hard cash works too. And the compass makes a great gift for Columbus Day, -"

"Sam!" Mr. Martin warned.

"Sorry," he mumbled before continuing on with his actual report, "Unfortunately, my great-great-grandfather, the genius that he was, wound up going blind and crazy in a psycho ward, drawing these strange symbols and babbling on about some giant ice man that he thought he'd discover-"

The bell rang. And the class instantaneously stood up and made their way out the door.

The teacher finally stood up, "Okay. Might be a pop quiz tomorrow. Might not," he called after them, making his eyes wide, "Sleep in fear tonight."

Sam followed the crowd of high-schoolers toward the door, still trying to get some bids, "Here, you want? Here, 50. 40? 30?"

"Sam?" the teacher asked him, getting his attention.

"Yeah. Sorry, sorry," he apologized again, "Okay. Pretty good, right?" he smiled sweetly, trying to get a smile out of his stone-like history teacher.

"I'd say a," he paused, "a solid B minus."

"A _B minus_?" Sam squeaked out, his hopes washing down the drain.

* * *

"Yes! Yes, yes!" Sam yelled, running wildly down the short hill to his father's green car. He threw on his brakes as he noticed a young, jean-clad woman leaning over the passenger side door, talking to his father.

Sam, automatically jumping to all sorts of conclusions, took on a defensive tone, "Hey, lady, why don't you go talk to a _single _guy. I don't know how, but this guy is already taken."

The woman turned around, crossing her arms. Her face had taken on a 'Are-you-talking-to-me?' expression that only people from the military possess.

Sam felt his eyes widen at the sight of her face, one which he instantly recognized. "J-Jenn?" he gaped, still not believing what he was seeing.

She cocked an eyebrow, "Hm? Did you say something to me?" she took a step forward, intimidating him further.

"Yes, I mean, No!" Sam stammered, backing up. He was confused on what to say, "Uh...um, welcome home?" he squeaked out, as he spread his arms wide open with a cheesy grin on his face.

Jennifer lunged forward and hugged his neck, "Ugh, I missed you, Sam," she said as she felt his own arms tighten around her. Tears pricked her closed eyes at seeing her little brother in person for the first time in months.

"I missed you too," he said, tears welling up in his own eyes. Not that he would admit that, of course.

She pulled back and held his shoulders out at arms' length. "I had no idea you were coming home," he said smiling at her.

"I flew in this morning and Mom and Dad picked me up after you were at school. I wanted to surprise you," she explained.

Sam leaned around her and stared at his father, "You knew about this?" he hissed, pointing at Jenn, "And you didn't tell me?"

Ron shrugged at his son, smiling, "I'm still surprised your mother was able to keep it secret."

"How long exactly?" Sam continued to interrogate his father.

"Three weeks," Ron answered him. Sam's jaw dropped again and he turned to face Jennifer.

"So," he began, putting it all together, "you knew you were coming home when you helped me with my report over video chat a week and a half ago?"

"Yep," she confirmed, popping the 'p', "Like I said, I wanted to surprise you."

Sam put his hands on his hips and stared at the ground, wondering just how _his parents_, Ron and Judy Witwicky, kept this big of a secret from him. And how he hadn't found out about it.

"C'mon you two," Ron said, waving his hand, "Get in the car."

Sam headed to open the passenger side door, but Jenn shoved him toward the backseat. "Nuh-uh, kid, _I'm_ home, _I _get shotgun."

Sam sighed as she slid into the passenger seat but plopped himself down in the back anyway. He strapped himself in and slung his bag and backpack on the floor of the car.

"So?" Ron provoked his son as he pulled away from the school.

"_A minus_," Sam held up a paper in front of his face, grinning at it, "It's an A, though."

"Jenn, look and see. I can't look."

Sam waved the paper wildly in front of her face, "See, Jenn? See!"

"Wait, wait, wait...I can't see. Sam! Hold it still," she commanded, fumbling for the paper, "Ah! It's an _A_, Dad."

"So I'm good?" Sam questioned, leaning up between the two.

"Yeah, you're good," Ron almost regrettably told him as his two children slapped each other several high-fives. Jennifer noticed the look on her father's face and punched him lightly on the shoulder. He shot her a warning look, but continued to drive.

* * *

Tell what you think! Would you even be willing to read this thing further?

DISCLAIMER: Transformers and all other associated characters belongs to Hasbro. If I owned it, they would be real. I only own my OC, Jennifer.

This chapter was edited and re-uploaded on: May 26, 2013.


	2. Kind of like Racing Stripes

A HUGE 'Thank you!' to all of you who reviewed, favorited, and/or followed. You guys blew me out of the water by the response I got from just the stinkin' first chapter Camigirl215, mjkcsk, cjewellm, LEXA14, kali yugah, FireChild24, Katsu Shade Nakamara, Dunk234, Flashfox Tyrell05, qaz1234, TheInheritance, Arienhod, GoldenWingedAngel, babybear1994, SPEEDIE22, Glowlight, buetly, Bumblebee's Honey, Ergelina, Jovie Black, Shannon the chameleon, passingwhisper, DiNutso-4-DiNozzo, Joldino-Sidestreaker, yunibell, Madii, MistressoftheDark12, Raven-Evelyn, kyubbi lover 98, madiiunicorn, and a lovely guest.

Also, can I take this small amount of space and time in the universe to say that I love Gary Allen? His voice makes me melt. The man could sing the bloody phonebook and I would still love him. (I listened to his new album whilst writing this chapter.)

Chapter 2 – Kind of like Racing Stripes

"I got a little surprise for you, son," Sam and Jenn's father said as he pulled into a Porshe dealership.

"What kind of...," Sam's voice trailed off from the backseat as he stared up at the expensive sign in awe.

"No. No, no, no, no, Dad!" the teenage boy yelled, his voice raising in volume with every word, "Oh, you got to be kidding me!" His skinny arms were spazzing in the air, unable to contain his excitement. He was going to get a car, a hot car at that, and then he would get the girl.

Up in the front seat, Jenn looked over at her father out of the corner of her eye, wondering just how long he was going to drag this out. Ron met her gaze, smiling slightly. She sent him a stern look that could rival her mother's and Ron finally cracked.

"Yeah, I am," Ron chuckled, "You're not getting a Porsche."

Sam whipped his head around to look at him in both anger and disbelief, "You think that's funny?"

"Yeah, I think it's funny," Ron continued to laugh at his son. Jenn cracked up at the sound of Sam's high-pitched shriek and soon cackled with laughter at her brother's expense. Sam was so gullible and too easy to play pranks on.

"What is wrong with you two?" Sam yelled, his voice holding a hint of disappointment. Jenn only laughed harder at his expression.

"Jenn!" he screamed, red in the face from both embarrassment and anger.

"Don't worry Sam," Jennifer said, stifling her laughter into a wide grin. She had always thought it amusing when her younger brother was on the verge of a meltdown, "He did the same thing to me when I got my first car."

Ron craned his neck to look back at his son as they pulled out of the expensive dealership and raised a eyebrow, "You think I'd really get you a Porsche for your first car?"

"I don't want to talk to you for the rest of this whole thing," Sam, still mainly frustrated with his father, muttered as they all walked into a junky used car lot.

"Oh, come on. It's just a practical joke," Ron barked out, getting cracked up again.

"It's not a funny joke."

Jenn shook her head at the two and followed them under a rusted carport that 'sheltered' even rustier cars. She looked around, attempting to find at least one car that was fitting to hold the golden title of Sam's first car. In the meantime, Sam was busy freaking out about the state of the cars and pointing out the horrifying fact to his unconcerned father.

"Here?" he gestured wildly all over a pitiful car, "No, no, no, what is this? You said... You said half a car, not half a piece of crap, Dad."

"When I was your age, I'd have been happy with four wheels and an engine," Ron Witwicky retorted.

"Okay," Sam pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed out a long breath, "let me explain something to you. Okay?"

"Okay," Ron held his hands up in surrender and listened.

"You ever see forty-year-old virgin?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, that's what this is," Sam gestured to the closest car, "And this is fifty-year-old virgin," he said, gesturing to a poor older sports model with a caved-in roof.

"Okay," Ron drew out the word, waiting on Sam to make his point.

"You want me to live that life?" Sam whined out pitifully.

His father simply shrugged, "No sacrifice, no victory."

Jenn rolled her eyes again at her father. _'Pft,..Dads...'_

"Yeah, no victory," Sam waved the mild reminder off, "I got it, the old Witwicky motto, Dad."

A black man in a loud Hawaiian shirt and hat strode out of the small building under the carport and held his out his hand to Ron, "Gentlemen, lady," Ron grasped his hand and gave it a firm shake, "Bobby Bolivia, like the country, except without the runs," he laughed at his own joke and Jenn felt her lips pull into a very tight smile as she also shook his hand after Sam, "How can I help you?"

"Well, my son here," Ron started, clapping Sam on the back, " is looking to buy his first car."

"You come to see me?" Bobby almost sounded shocked and looked at Sam.

"I had to," the teen muttered.

Bobby continued on without hearing the statement, showing a mega-watt smile that screamed wanna-be, and failing, businessman, "That practically makes us family," he held his hand out again to Sam, "Uncle Bobby B, baby. Uncle Bobby B."

Jenn's smile faded until her lips simply pressed against each other. She was not particularly fond of over-eager and way-too-friendly carsalesmen. Then again, she was not particularly fond of over-eager and way-too-friendly people. She thought it was an Air Force thing; training kicking in when she was in an uncomfortable situation and putting her senses on high alert. So, she watched every move made.

"Sam," her brother said, grasping his hand and then letting go. He moved to walk forward, but Uncle Bobby slung a arm around his shoulders and walked with him

"Sam, let me talk to you," he started his pitch, "Your first enchilada of freedom awaits underneath one of those hoods," he waved his free arm, gesturing to the expanse of worn cars. "Let me tell you something, son, a driver don't pick the car, the car'll pick the driver."

Jenn thought she had heard enough and continued forward, eying a decent looking yellow Camaro. Her eyebrows perked up, head reeling in thought about its engine. Sure, it looked fine on the outside, but the inside of the vehicle, the heart of the thing, made the car.

"Hey, Sam," Jenn called behind her, patting the hood, "This one ain't bad." Sam, grateful for an excuse to leave, looked at her from under Uncle Bobby's arm and briskly walked over to her, eying the dusty Camaro as well.

"This one's got racing stripes," he mused out loud as he ran his hand over the length of the car. Bobby and Ron came around and Uncle Bobby stood at the back of the car, ready to begin again his pitch.

"Yeah. It got racing," he began, but trailed off, looking confused. "Yeah, what's this? What the heck is this?" he looked around and raised his voice, "I don't know nothing about this car. Manny!" While Bobby looked away, Sam slunk into the driver's seat.

"Feels good," he mumbled, running his hands over the steering wheel. He noticed a odd emblem in the center and leaned closer to it, running his fingers over it to remove the dust.

A shorter man came running out of the garage in the back of the dealership, "What?"

"What is this? This car! Check it out!" Bobby shouted back at him.

"Hey, Jenn," Sam called to her softly out of the open driver's window.

"Hmm?" she leaned in the window.

"Do you know what this is?" He ran his thumb over a symbol in the center of the steering wheel.

Jenn cocked an eyebrow and leaned closer, "No, never seen it before. Must be a custom job," she backed out of the window and walked to the front of the car.

"I don't know, boss! I've never seen it! That's loco!" the short man continued to yell, waving his shop towel in the air.

Jenn groped her hand around the under edge of the hood, looking for a way to release it. Her hand found a little notch and she hooked her hand into it and lifted up, expecting the hood to unlatch and raise up. She tried again, adding more force. With a very confused expression on her face, she leaned down to have a look, thinking she was tugging in the wrong spot. _'No,'_ she thought and straightened herself up. She once again hooked her hand into the notch and jerked upward. _'Must be jammed...,'_ she pounded her fist on the hood of the car.

"Don't go Ricky Ricardo on me, Manny! Find out!" Bobby yelled to his employee. Manny simply waved his towel once more and went back to his garage.

"How much?" Ron asked looking over the roof of the car at the Bolivia.

"Well," Bobby drew out with a small grin, "considering the semi-classic nature of the vehicle, with the slick wheels and the custom paint job..."

"Yeah, but the paint's faded," Jenn commented, patting the car.

"Yeah, but it's custom," Uncle Bobby retorted, quickly dismissing her and his grin fading fast.

'This guy is ridiculous,' she thought, 'Not even Epps is this obstinate.'

"It's custom faded?" Sam continued to question him.

Bobby leaned down to look at the offending teen, "I wouldn't expect you to understand." He stood back up and made eye-contact with Ron. Sam, inside the car and out of sight of the two men, mimicked him, mouthing the words for the amusement of his sister.

"Five grand." Bobby Bolivia made his offer with pursed lips.

"Nope, I'm not paying over four," Ron raised his hands, shaking his head, "Sorry."

"Kid," Bobby leaned in the passenger window again, "Come on, get out of the car."

"No, no, no," Sam argued in a very serious tone, "You said cars pick their drivers."

"Well, sometimes they pick a driver with a cheap father and nosy sisters," he motioned with his hands toward Jenn who now had a very military-esque angry face on, "Out of the car."

He turned around to an ugly yellow VW next to the Camaro. "Now, this one here, for four G's," he climbed in, "is a beaut."

"There's a Fiesta with racing stripes over there," Ron said as he pointed across the lot, hoping to cheer up his son.

"A Fiesta, Dad?" Jennifer exasperatedly looked over at her father, "Really?" Jenn was ready to leave. There was no use staying here is Sam wasn't going to get the Camaro and she had had enough of Bobby _Bull_-livia.

"No, I don't want a Fiesta with racing stripes," Sam moped, begrudgingly getting out of the Camaro.

"This is a classic engine right here," Bobby rambled on, "I sold a car the other day..." Sam shut the driver's side door. Not a second later, the passenger door flew open and slammed into the VW with enough force to push the bug sideways. A stack of plastic jugs and a old rusted pieces of metal crashed to the pavement. Bobby climbed up through the passenger's door. Jenn noted with a fading hope that he was indeed unharmed.

"You all right?" Ron asked him, coming around to help.

"No worries," he waved Ron off, "I can get a sledgehammer and knock this right out," he turned to the garage again. "Manny! Get your clown cousin and some hammer and come bang this stuff out, baby!" He let out a laugh and surveyed the nearby cars. He then pointed and started off across the lot, "That one's my favorite. Drove all the way from Alabammy!"

A high, loud noise filled the air and, one by one, all the windows in the cars shattered. Jenn, training kicking in, grabbed onto Sam's shoulders and pulled him to the ground, covering his head with her body. She slowly sat up as the sounds of shattering glass ended and her eyes went wide.

Every car in the lot was now missing its windows. All except one...the yellow Camaro.

Bobby, shaking with fright, got up much more slowly and looked around wildly at all the cars in shock. He whipped around to look at Ron and raised up a shaking hand. He held up four fingers.

"F-four thousand!"

* * *

As always, please inform me of spelling/grammar mistakes and tell me what you thought!

Next chappie? Miles and Mikaela!


	3. Get Back with Pop-Up Wobbly Hairtriggers

Thank you to all those who followed, favortied, and/or reviewed last chapter. You guys continue to blow me away!

SPEEDIE22, Raven-Evelyn, angel's lil devil angel, MistressoftheDark12, DiNutso-4-DiNozzo, DarkStorm00, edvis93, Ergelina, Arienhod, Shannon the chameleon, Clemences-are-so-sexy, Camigirl215, He4artBreaker101, Devil-O-Angel, , aine hathaway, ImaBiteChu, Whisper119, dshoover, queen-of-evil66, kittychan125, and four of my lovely guests: A Fan, brittany and two other anonymous.

* * *

Chapter 3- Get Back with Pop-Up Wobbly Hairtriggers

"Steve," John Keller nodded as he stepped up to the stage.

"Hello, Mr. Secretary," Steve shook Keller's hand, respectively, before walking on.

John Keller looked over the crowd that was mostly composed of youngsters."They're so young," he commented to the Corporal standing beside him.

"They're the top subject matter experts, sir. NSA's recruiting right out of high school these days," the man told him. As the two talked, whispers rose up from the seated crowd at the sight of the Secretary of Defense.

A military man walked onto the stage, dressed to the hilt with his honorary badges and pins, "Ladies and gentlemen, the Secretary of Defense," he motioned over to the side with a respective sweep of his hand and everyone in the crowd stood as John Keller strode onto the stage.

"Please be seated," he commanded, with a motion of his hands, "I'm John Keller," he introduced himself. But instead of giving a long and drawn-out explanation of the situation full of statistics and numbers, he cut right to the chase, a trait that he was both known and respected for.

"Obviously, you're wondering why you're here, so these are the facts. At 19:00 local time yesterday, the SOCCENT Forward Operations Base in Qatar was attacked. So far as we know, there were no survivors from the attack. Just a few airmen took leave just a few hours prior," he paused, letting the gravity of the situation settle in. "The objective of the attack was to hack our military network. We're not sure exactly what they're after, but we do know that they were cut off during the assault, which would lead us to assume that they're going to try it again. Now, no one's taken responsibility for the attack. And the only real lead we have so far is this sound," he jerked his arm out to the side to signal a computer operator to play the file. A muted screeching came from the speaker, filling the silent room with garbled language. Everyone listened, completely bewildered as to what could have such a signal.

When the signal record ended, Keller continued, "That's the signal that hacked our network," he took another pause to thickly swallow his hidden fear, "NSA's working at full capacity to analyze it and intercept further communications, but we need your help to find out who did this. Now, you've all shown considerable ability in the area of signals analysis. We're on a hairtrigger here, people. The President has dispatched battle groups to the Persian Gulf and Yellow Sea," his hardened eyes seemed to bore right into anyones' who met his gaze. He needed these people, these young adults, these _kids, _ to know this situation was a desperate time for the security and safety for the country and everyone in it.

"This is as real as it's ever gonna get. Now I'm gonna leave you to your officer-in-charge. You'll break up into teams and you'll start your work," he scanned over the crowd once again. He trusted these young adults. They would do well not to let him down.

"Good luck to us all."

* * *

"Come out, come out, Mojo," Jenn cooed as she walked into Sam's room looking for the little dog. She spotted him curled up on Sam's bed. He perked his overlarge ears up and cracked open his eyes at the sound of her voice.

"Ah, there you are," she smiled and picked up the little brown dog and cuddled him to her chest, "You want your pain pills?"

She turned to take him out of the room but stopped in her tracks at the sight of her brother in front of his mirror, squeezing at something on his face.

"No, premature," he mumbled to himself, sounding dejected. He then spotted Jenn standing behind him in the mirror.

"AH!," he jumped at the sight of her. He struck a ninja stance, standing on one foot and his arms in front of him, karate chopping the air, "Jenn! What are you doing in here? What do ya want?"

"Geez, calm down," she said looking at him, weirded out by his reaction, "Its just time for Mojo's meds and I finally found him in this pig's sty of yours."

"Oh," he awkwardly flicked his dark eyes back and forth, still in his 'defensive' stance.

She snickered at him and shifted Mojo to one arm as she walked over to him. She lightly shoved one of his shoulders and he immediately fell to the ground.

"Yep," she told him, "we need to work on your stance. That one was one of the weakest I've ever seen."

He scrambled to his feet, "Yeah, well, I just needed a little warning. You can't just surprise-"

He was cut off as she, once again, caused him to fall to the floor by kicking his knees out from under him. He propped himself up on his elbows and simply sent her a evil glare from the floor.

"Hey, your still going to that lake party with Miles today right?" she asked him lightly as she wandered over to his open bedroom door.

"Yeah," he said, still on the floor, refusing to stand back up while she was still in the room, thinking he could still protect his pride, "you still coming with right?"

"Yeah, just checking," she called from the stairs, "You better get ready, almost time."

He waited until he was absolutely sure she was down the stairs before he got up again. He looked at himself in the mirror.

"What's up?" he shrugged to himself, "Nothing. You know, just driving my car."

Jenn hummed to herself as she waltzed into the kitchen with Mojo. She sat him down on the counter and grabbed his pill bottle, dumping one into her hand, "I know you get wasted on these things, okay?" she held the small blue pill in front of his mouth and he snapped it in, crunching it like he would kibble.

She smiled and rubbed his ears, "That's it for today. No more, you little crackhead."

She put up the pill bottle and spotted her parents in the backyard, her father's pride and joy, besides his children, of course. Her mother was planting even more flowers in her garden while her father was being nit-picky about his grass. When she had went off and immersed herself into the Air Force, Sam had just entered his Freshmen year of high school and their parents were basically left to themselves all day. With no child to look after or do things while Sam was in school and with his friends, they had to take up something else to spend their time. Ron had talked all the time about doing something in the backyard while Jennifer had still been at home, but just never found the time to do it. Judy had also been cooking up a plan for a grand garden and other flowerbeds around the house for several years. Therefore, they took up landscaping their home.

Jenn smiled again at her parents, but then heard her brother stumbling down the stairs. She rolled her eyes and headed the back door. Mojo, seeing his mistress leaving him, whined. With his cast he couldn't jump off the counter. Jenn heard him and picked him up before walking out the door. She followed her father's brick path and set the dog down by the walkway that led up to a little house she and Sam had built as soon as her father brought the little dog home her junior year. 'Mojo's Penthouse' they had named it and the chihuahua had indeed claimed it as his own.

Jenn noticed something on Mojo that caught the sun. A bejeweled collar around his neck. She ran a hand over her face.

"I can't do it anymore."

Judy stood up from her garden and walked over to her daughter, dusting off her hands, "What did you say, Jenn?"

Jenn turned her head to look at her, "I can't stand it, you're putting _girl_ jewelry on a _boy_ dog."

"What?"

"He's got enough self-esteem issues as a Chihuahua, Mom," Jenn informed her, exasperated.

"That's his _bling!" _stretching out the word, Judy smiled deviously and shook her shoulders before turning and walking toward Ron. Jenn closed her eyes and shook her head. Sometimes, her mother was too much.

"Ron, this one is uneven," she heard her mother say as she tested Ron's handiwork.

"Yeah, probably," he said from his hands and knees.

"This one is wobbly," Judy added, testing another brick.

"Yeah. I'll take care of that real soon," Ron aloofly told her.

"Couldn't we have hired a professional?"

The screen door slammed shut as Sam, grinning as he jingled his keys, strode out of the house. Right onto his father's lawn.

"Sam...," Ron threw his little gardening tool into the dirt.

"What?"

"I do not like footprints on my grass," Ron put his hands on his hips.

"What foot-," Sam began, looking behind him. He looked down at his father, "There's no footprints."

"That's why I built my path," Ron motioned, "So why don't you," he pointed at Sam, "go from my grass," he pointed, "onto my path," he motioned at the bricks.

Jenn, who was already on the path beside her mother, piped up, "It's family grass, Dad."

"Well," he twisted his torso around to look at her, "When you own your own grass, you'll understand." Sam rolled his eyes at his father and the two siblings walked over to the yellow Camaro. They climbed in, Sam obviously driving and Jenn in the passenger side.

"I want you two home at eleven o'clock!" Judy called after them.

"Yeah, all right."

"Eleven o'clock!" Ron reinforced the statement. He thought that Judy was sometimes a little too lenient when it came to curfew and the punishment that came with breaking it.

"Please, drive safely!"

"Seat belts on!" Ron yelled. Sam started the car and a thick, black cloud of smoke exploded from the exhaustpipe. It covered the entire yard in a matter of seconds.

"Wow," Judy commented dryly to her husband, "You are so cheap."

"Well, it's his first car," Ron slightly shrugged, "supposed to be like that."

* * *

At the moment, the Secretary of Defense was all over the news as he delivered disturbing information.

"At 19:00 local time yesterday, the SOCCENT Forward Operations Base in Qatar was attacked. At this time, we can't confirm whether there were any survivors. Our bases worldwide are, as of now, at DEFCON Delta, our highest readiness level. We're dealing with a very effective weapons system that we have not come across before. But our prayers are with the families of the brave men and women who perished in this horrible tragedy. We will hunt down this enemy. And when we do, we'll know just what to do with them. Currently, we have floors of highly skilled personnel at the Pentagon who are working nonstop to find answers... "

He did not reveal just how effective this weapon system was. He did not reveal who or what attacked the base. He did not fully reveal just how disturbed he was that there were no survivors. He did not reveal just how lost and confused he, along with so many others, was at the moment. He only revealed what needed to be told. He only told what was protocol.

This was all he could do.

* * *

"I've never seen a weapons system like this," Epps told the small group of soldiers. They had congregated around an abandoned tank in the middle of the desert. They were all hot, blistered, hungry, tired, and covered in bruises, scrapes, and scratches that varied in intensity.

"The thermal shows this weird aura around the exoskeleton like it's cloaked by some kind of invisible force field," Epps continued and handed his binocular camera over to Lennox.

"That's impossible," Don said, throwing his comment in, "There's no such thing as invisible force fields except in, like, comic book stuff," he blinked at the team through his glasses, "Right?"

"Man, I don't know," Fig said as he twisted a cross that hung around his neck, "My mama, she had the gift, you know? She saw things. I got the gene, too, and that thing that attacked us?"

They all looked at him. No one had mentioned the attack since they had fled the base. In some way, they were all afraid to.

"I got a feeling it ain't over."

"How about you use those magic voodoo powers and get us the heck out of here, huh?" Don retorted.

"When I took that picture," Epps started again, deep in his thoughts. Lennox looked over at his friend, and concern for him filled his mind and leaked out of his brown eyes, but not showing on his face, "I think it saw me. It looked right at me."

"All right, we got to get this thing back to the Pentagon right away," Will told them, holding Epps' binocular camera up, "They got to know what we're dealing with here."

"My radio's fried," Epps confirmed from the side, "I got no communication with aerial."

Will put a hand on the back of his neck and looked over the desert, needing to think for a moment.

"W.W.J.D," he said, not really focusing his eyes on anything.

"What?" Epps looked at him with a confused face.

"Hey, man, I think the sun has finally fried your brain!" Rodney called down from on top of the tank.

Will just waved him off, "No, no," he looked Epps in the eye, and smiled slightly, "What would Jenn do?"

Noises of recognition and snickers came from the small group of men, but all of them wore smiles at the thought of the only female on their team that always had a plan. Many times, when the squadron was in intense danger in the middle of gunfire and dying comrades, the woman's quick and cool head gave them a game plan in a split-second decision to get out alive _and_ take out some enemies. Right now, in this desperate situation, Will almost wished she had not taken leave and had stayed at the base with them, just so she could be with him right now and help clear his mind.

But he shook his head. He shouldn't think that. Despite her skill and experience in a warzone, if Jenn had stayed at the base, there was no guarantee that she would have survived. He was glad she was safe at home and out of danger. He was beyond glad for that matter, he realized. The thought that whatever attacked the base was still out there and the military had no clue what they were dealing with, put a squirm in his stomach. That metal monster could easily attack a civilian area, killing unsuspecting people with a blast of destroying light from its arm.

Unsuspecting people like Jenn.

A sudden drive filled him. He and his team had info that could potentially save millions. They had to keep on going, they had to keep running. They had to save them. He had to save Jenn.

"Hey, Mahfouz," he spoke up, an idea hitting him, "How far do you live from here?"

"Not far. Just up that mountain," the little boy, standing on the tank next to sitting Rodney, pointed out over the empty desert.

"Do they have a phone?" Will asked, making sure his plan was going to work.

"Yes."

"All right," Will straightened his ball cap on his head to block the sun out of his eyes, "let's hit it."

* * *

"Dude, are you sure we're invited to this party?" Miles asked from the backseat. Sam was driving his new car around a curve in the road.

"Of course, Miles," Sam reassured his friend while also secretly reassuring himself, "It's a lake. Public property." As Sam pulled his car to park at the curb, he began to freak out, gawking at a skimpily clad young woman.

"Dude, look, Mikaela's here," he said to Miles in a serious tone as the two got out of the car, "Just don't do anything weird, all right?

"Who's Mikaela?" Jenn asked as she walked behind Miles, "Her?" she jammed her thumb over her shoulder in the general direction of the girl.

Miles was about to answer her but Sam cut him off, ignoring his older sister's question, "I'm good, right?"

"Yeah, you're good," Miles clapped him on the back as they walked over in the shade. Jenn hung back and leaned on the hood of Sam's car, quietly observing with one worn-out tennis shoe propped on the car.

"Hey, bro!" some guy with his baseball cap on backwards yelled at Sam as he walked up, "That car. It's nice," the muscular guy walked around the black, hulking vehicle to stare Sam down. In the meantime, Miles promptly shook his light jacket to the ground and hopped over to the nearest tree, beginning to climb it.

"So much for not doing anything weird..." Jenn muttered to herself. She felt herself slip a little off the car as it seemed to move. She blamed it on her imagination and switched legs to lean on.

"So, what are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to climb this tree," Sam said, blinking several times and gazing up at Miles as he struggled to gain footing.

"I see that. It looks... It looks fun."

Miles let out a puff of air as he almost lost his footing, but he successfully got both of his feet over a split limb.

"You know, I thought I recognized you. You tried out for the football team last year, right?" Jenn snorted at that comment. Even though she did not like this guy, this obvious jock, she thought the football tryout comment funny. She remembered rushing over to the sidelines where Sam had been brought over after being clobbered by three buff guys. She had to explain to her mother over the phone exactly what happened without cracking up for the sake of Sam.

Sam glanced around at her before answering, "Oh, no, no, that... No," he vigorously shook his head, "That wasn't like a real tryout. I was researching a book I was writing."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah."

Miles swung upside down from the tree, his bent knees keeping him balanced.

"Yeah? What's it about? Sucking at sports?" the muscular guy mocked Sam, getting in his face.

_'Okay,' _Jen thought, _'this kid, is toast.'_

"No, it's about the link between brain damage and football," Sam came back with, "It's a good book. Your friends'll love it. You know, it's got mazes in it and, you know, little coloring areas, pop-up pictures. It's a lot of fun."

_'Yeah,' _she thought again, feeling a streak of pride run through her, _'that's my little bro.' _She felt Sam's Camaro tremble again underneath her and she abruptly stood up and looked down at the canary yellow car sharply, eyebrows narrowed. She shook her head, getting the weird thoughts out of her head, claiming it was just her imagination again.

"Oh, that's funny," the guy took a threatening step toward Sam. Jenn noticed his arm flex and his fingers clench into a fist. That was all it took to send Jennifer over and putting herself between the two. No one was going to mess with her brother, now matter how wimpy he was.

She put her hands on the jock's large shoulders and shoved him back. "Do. Not. Touch him," she jammed a finger into his chest with every word. The guy put on a cocky face and grabbed her arm at the last second, pulling her close to his face.

"Oh, bro, who is this?" he asked Sam, eyes skimming her over. Realization dawned on his face once he took a closer look at hers, "Wait, your his sister," he said releasing her as she was getting ready to slug him.

So this guy did remember her...Jenn remembered him well enough at least. She told off this same guy when Sam failed at football tryouts, yelling in his face at both the comments he made about her brother and his general attitude toward his teammates. As a soldier, Jenn realized the importance of teammates and the trust that was supposed to be laid in them. She trusted her squadron members with her life. She despised it when someone did not show teammates the appreciation they deserved.

The jock was about to say something else to her, but Mikaela also ran up and got in the middle of the group, putting her hands on his chest.

"Okay, you know what? Stop," she said, calming him down and then walked back over to his black vehicle.

"Hey, guys," the guy turned around to get the attention of his friends, "I know of a party. Let's go, let's head."

"Miles, you got to get out of the tree right now," Sam commanded, seething as he glared daggers at the back of the jock's head. "Just get out of the tree right now, please," Sam grabbed the hand of an equally angry Jenn, the action calming her down slightly, and hauled her behind him.

Miles expertly swung down and grinned as he looked at Sam and Jenn, "Did you see that dismount? All the chicks were watching."

"You're making me look like an idiot. We both looked like idiots just now," Sam walked to the front of his car and leaned against it, watching Mikaela as she now walked down the road. Miles went around to the passenger side and entered the window headfirst.

The Camaro's radio kicked on, _'Who's gonna drive you home, tonight?' _a voice crooned out of the speakers.

"Hey, man, what's wrong with your radio?" Miles called to Sam, settling in the passenger seat.

Sam, his eyes still locked on Mikaela's leaving form, mumbles, "I'm gonna drive her home tonight."

Jenn, preparing to yank Miles out of the passenger seat, looked over at Sam from the passenger side, "What?"

"She's an evil jock concubine, man. Let her hitchhike," Miles commented, pulling his legs away from Jenn's reach with a glare.

"She lives 10 miles from here, okay? It's my only chance," Sam looked desperate for support. "You got to be understanding here, all right?"

"All right," Miles shrugged, "we'll put her in the back."

"Did you say, 'Put her in the back'?"

Miles furiously nodded. "_I _called shotgun this time," he turned and stuck out his tongue at Jenn, who wiggled her own right back at him, "We can put her back there with Jenn. Ya know, female bonding time."

"I'm not putting her in the back," Sam slashed the air with his hand and climbed in the driver's seat, "You have got to get out of my car," he looked back and forth between Jenn and Miles.

"That's a party foul," Miles told him.

"On what rules?"

"Bros before hoes."

"Sisses before misses," Jenn added.

"Yeah, see?" Miles motioning wildly at Jenn, "Even your airhead of a sister knows the rules."

Jenn glared at him but didn't comment on the mild insult.

"Miles, Jenn, I'm begging you to get out of my car. Okay?"

"You can't do this to me," Miles pleaded with him.

"You got to get out of my car right now."

Miles heaved out a sigh, but climbed out of the car anyway, slamming the door behind him.

"But-" Jenn started to say as she moved closer to the driver door.

"Jenn," Sam looked at her sternly, a fire in his eyes, "I can fight and win my own battles." He was obviously referring to earlier with the jock.

With that, he cranked the car and hit the gas, speeding away.

* * *

I love Judy Witwicky. XD "Its his _bling..._"

I also think Miles is adorable and wish he was in the movies more.

This chapter was edited and re-uploaded on May 26, 2013.


	4. Slamming Tears

A huge "Thank You!" to all who followed, favorited, and/or reviewed last chapter: Raven-Evelyn, I got mugged by a penguin, Zeng Xiao Long Sunstar Crystal, Arienhod, Shannon the chameleon, Water-Fire22, Angel, kyubbi lover 98, yellowcardgirl13, Imma-Magical-Ninja-Banana, .Purple, lynn2008, DarkItalianAngel53, Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967, XxluvyaforevaXX, .ninja159, Crimesolver, madiiunicorn, willow0live, Chrysantha, MidDusk, Redrideing, Xlady-ZoZo-The-Pict-PrincessX,Ice and Fire dragon, mandy618, SakuraPheonix13, Castiel Angel Heart, Scottishgal12, SophStratt, japanesegal12, TheDarkAngelCreed, LunarisMalfoy, JJCME, TwiTeenNaturalDiaries, wintersnowish, DrAnime203, Snape'sGirl6-7-90, RunningFromShadows, XxxBellaBellaxxX, Hitsugaya Aiko, sassygirl9811, camelotlover, Choking On A Dream, Dreams of The Fallen Angels, Seth's girl12, Lessien Lossehelin, LapisLazuliRose, Bloody-kick-ass, hellraiserphoenix, sourskittles6887, Copykat2, Writers Block 420, ginger556, Rosalie Ann Jordan, Kat7CA, and the three Guest reviewers.

*whistles* Wow! That's a long list. That was a lot of copy and pasteing...

* * *

Chapter 4: Slamming Tears

Jenn kept her lips pressed together and Miles felt his eyes bugging out as they stood next to each other, watching the retreating yellow Camaro. Jenn sighed and then clasped an arm around Miles.

"Come on Miles, let's go home," she released him and started to walk in the right direction.

"_What?_" Miles whined, "I got out of the house just to be dumped on the side of the road? I don't think so!"

Jenn rolled her eyes at his complaint. She didn't necessarily enjoy being in Miles' presence for a long time, but he had been Sam's best friend since middle school. And he had stayed with her brother while she went off to the Air Force. She turned halfway around to look at him. The poor guy did have a point _and_ he had just kinda been dumped by his best friend for some girl. A girl he considered to be a 'jock concubine'.

"Alright, listen, you feeling ice cream?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

Miles nodded his blonde head vigorously.

"Okay, we'll stop by the local ice cream joint on the way home," she motioned with a large sweep of her arm, "Now let's go!"

* * *

The back screen door slammed shut as Jenn made her entrance into the kitchen, licking the last bit of her chocolate and mint ice cream. She kicked off her worn out tennis shoes and padded in mismatched socks toward the den.

"I'm ho-!" she began to yell in the direction of the stairs, but she saw her mother on the couch, eyes glued to the television and fingers pressed against her lips.

"Oh, hey Mom," Jenn said in a normal voice while taking a bite out of her cone.

"Hey honey," Judy replied distantly, her green eyes still stuck to the screen.

Jennifer moved her eyes around the den awkwardly. Her mother was out of her normal chipper mood, so Jenn knew something was up. Judy Witwicky was never aloof. She practically noticed everything that went on and about the Witwicky residence.

Jenn flicked her eyes to the television. Nothing of interest there, save for a talking gecko. What had gotten her mother like this?

"Mom," Jenn repeated with a little more force behind it, "What's up?"

Her mother jerked around suddenly, as if she had been startled.

"Oh! Jenn! Honey, come here," her dainty hands motioned frantically for her daughter to come sit by her on the plush couch. At that moment, Ron came from the dining room, and set the phone down on the receiver. He glanced over at his daughter briefly, avoided her eyes while sucking in a breath, then abruptly turned away to sit in his easy chair. Except, his posture wasn't so easy. He sat hunched over, near the edge, his muscles sort of tense, and hands clasped together.

"Did it come back on while I was gone, Judy?"

"No, not yet. Jenn, come here and sit by me."

Jenn glanced between her parents, uneasy. She took slow steps over the couch and sat next to her mother. Judy immediately put an arm around her daughter, and tuned her eyes back to the television screen. Jenn looked at her father for help.

"Jenn," taking a deep breath, he began slow, fixing her with a stare only a father possessed, "something has happened that you need to know about."

"What?" Jenn's eyes narrowed slightly, ready for whatever her father had to say. Had someone died? She knew nothing had happened to Sam. Otherwise, her mother would be a blubbering, tipsy woman with a hand full of wet and wadded Kleenex. A thousand scenarios ran through her mind.

At that moment, a graying man with piercing blue eyes came on the screen with the channel 2 news.

"Good evening, I'm Ron Harris with News Channel 2. We've been keeping a close eye on what the government has to say about the disastrous attack on the Air Force base attack in Qatar that left many friends and families at home..."

Jenn dropped her cone. _'Not my team. Not my team.' _she thought. What Ron Harris said next was lost on her ears as her body froze and her mind focused on one thing. _'Not my team. They're too good.' _She felt her Mother's arm tighten around her.

'_Not Epps. Not Lennox. Lennox knows what he's doing.'_

"...-what the the US Secretary of Defense announced to the nation earlier today." Ron's voice slowly found its way into her ears as her watered green eyes stared at the lined face of John Keller. She stared at the man, looking for a sliver of hope.

_'Not Will. Not him.'_

"At 19:00 local time yesterday, the SOCCENT Forward Operations Base in Qatar was attacked. At this time, we can't confirm whether there were any survivors. Our bases worldwide are, as of now, at DEFCON Delta, our highest readiness level. We're dealing with a very effective weapons system that we have not come across before. But our prayers are with the families of the brave men and women who perished in this horrible tragedy." Keller's voice paused and he seemed to brace himself for his next words, "We will hunt down this enemy. And when we do, we'll know just what to do with them."

Keller's voice cut off and Ron Harris' face appeared back on the screen, "That is all we have heard from the government at this time. But we have been told that the Pentagon is currently housing hundreds of skilled personnel who are working nonstop to find some answers. The government has also not released any pictures of the base attack thus far. We will keep you informed if any more information comes our way." Ron paused with a grim smile.

Before he could move on and report other news, Ron Witwicky switched off the TV and the three were left in silence.

Jenn finally felt a hot tear fall out of the corner of her eye and many others threatened to spill over. She quickly brushed it off with her hand. She ran both her hands over her blue jean cut-offs and clenched them at her knees, bowing her head. Silence screamed in the family room for what seemed like hours.

Finally, her mother wrapped both of her skinny arms around Jenn and pulled her to her chest. Jenn felt her body go slack as she collapsed into her mother's embrace and she left herself be gently rocked. The couch sunk down on Jenn's other side as her father sat by her. He put a strong hand on her knee and briefly patted it, not saying anything. Jenn's eyes met her father's dark ones and only saw the support he poured out.

Not pity. Not a river of sadness. Just the offer to be strong for her.

Jenn, still being rocked in her mother's arms, felt her face unwillingly twist up and she covered it with her hands. Her shoulders began to tremble and the tears began to flow. She felt her dad pick up her slack legs and place them in his lap.

* * *

Once again, the screen door to the Witwicky house slammed shut, signaling the arrival of Sam.

The teenager headed straight to the fridge and pulled out a can of soda. Popping the tab, he walked into the dark den.

"You guys! I'm home!" Sam yelled, searching for the remote. He happened to glance over at the couch. He wished he hadn't. His sister, his big sister, lay curled up in sweatpants and a t-shirt of their father's with a tear stained face. He took a hesitant step toward her and set his can down on the coffee table.

"Jenn?" he whisper-yelled.

A familiar green eye, glazed over, cracked open and focused on his face. He smiled at her, clearly in a good mood. She shut her eye again.

"Jenn, you okay?" he asked in a low voice, getting serious. She didn't acknowledge him.

"Look, if this is about what I said back at the lake, I'm sorry," he tried, crouching down in front of her. "You know I didn't mean it."

No response.

He flicked a piece of brown hair behind her ear. "I mean, someone's gotta look out for me. I can't even survive one play in football _tryouts_," he joked. Again, no response came.

"And to be totally honest, I miss you standing up for me," he tried again, smiling a little. His smile quickly faded when she made no move. He folded his legs under him and sat on the carpet right beside the couch.

"Je-eennn," he sang, poking her in the stomach, knowing it annoyed her. He usually got slapped on the head for poking her person, but no response.

"Jenn, come on, tell me what's wrong," he whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I can't stand it when you cry."

After a few moments, both of her eyes slowly opened and sadly met his.

"Hey, there she is," he softly grinned.

"Sam," she croaked out his name, her voice wavering.

"What?" he mumbled, eyebrows knitted together in concern.

She paused, trying to find the right words. But none came into her head except the blunt ones. "There was a attack on the base in Qatar, the base my squad and I were," she swallowed thickly, "were stationed."

She took a deep and shaking breath, eyes burning, "Sam, they said they don't know if anyone survived."

Sam looked away from her eyes a moment, but then looked back to her with a slight smile, "Hey, they didn't say that there wasn't any survivors..."

She raised herself up on her elbow. "But, Sam!"

"Ah!" he cut her off, jumping up and raising a finger for effect, "And the way you talk about your team and this _Lennox_ guy," he said the last part in a teasing tone. She abruptly sat up, eyes flashing, and opened her mouth, but he continued in a serious and calm voice.

"I'm sure they can handle themselves."

She looked at him, eyes loosing some of their intensity and face softening. He sat down beside her on the couch.

"And, hey, if all else fails, you still got us: Judy, Ron, me," he said in a cheering-up attempt. Mojo came running into the den and hopped onto Jenn's lap, pawing at her leg for attention.

"And Mojo, of course," he added, laughing. Jenn cracked a smile and scratched the chihuahua's ears.

They sat together in silence until she lightly punched Sam on the shoulder. "Thanks."

"For what?" he asked, putting an arm around her and pulling her head to his shoulder.

"For being a brother."

They once again sat in comfortable silence for a while until Jenn perked up and looked at Sam.

"So," she started, waiting on him to finish.

"Sooo?" he questioned.

Jenn smiled at him. "How was your drive?" she asked, grin growing wider, "Tell me about this Mikaela chick."

* * *

I know this wasn't the longest chapter...but trust me! More will come soon. I'm currently on Spring Break, so I have time on my hands and lots of ideas. Dangerous combination.

Ron Harris is actually a teacher at my high school whom I respect a lot. So, when the need arose, I based the newscaster off of him. To my knowledge, there isn't an actual newscaster by the name of Ron Harris. Any parallels are completely coincidental.

This chapter was edited and re-uploaded on May 26, 2013.


	5. Fighting To Stand

A big 'Thank You!" to all those who either favorited, followed, or reviewed last chapter: madiiunicorn, UltraMagnusFanGirl, KeepingThemAtBay, Shannon the chameleon, Aeglos3, ramzgurl, slytheringirl22, mcrmy246, DarkItalianAngel53, LITTLE RED FOXX, golden-priestess, Nevergonnafitin, paulsgirl, SweetestSarcasm, shinigamigymnast13, Kat7CA, Castiel Angel Heart, TransFanFreak101, Elizabeth0058, Gamer DC, Aly-Reed101, superloudean, BlueEyedGunSlinger, jenni10121, TeamSterekForever, NicNak428, LuvDiBiaseJr, zebrazoe, dianaemrys15, MIW-LOVER, Sapphire Psycho, Nicky43, the-asian-fidget, Zombiekiller656, Dorito of Doom, PrettyGirl5894, Spirit Kiss, 3, Animelover KAT, xxEm'n'JJ4evaxx, BGPixieQueen77, Black Dragon 42, soul reaper miko, Blue Phoenix Shinju, mercuryfire, 19irene96, 402, clutzrox, sassygirl9811, sakurapuck, sailingchick16, West Coast Country Girl, theDownHomeSouthernGirl, Alexstarlight18,ShikiKaze09, munkynuts23, Sesshylover16, Vanessaelyse, RedRoses224, bookXworm080, Simone140089, twirlgirl4life1, GravityDefier7827, mcgonagiggles, midnightstorm111, LadyAmazon, Hannah Michaelis, WerewolfGirl316, CBRose72, and two guests, Purelight97, and an anonymous.

*whistles* Wow! That's another long list. You guys are seriously blowing me away!

Hey, guess what you guys?! SCHOOL IS (officially) O.U.T.! I honestly don't know how to feel.

**I have went back and edited the other chapters. So, you might wanna check back with those. I added in a couple scenes. **Of course, if your anything like me, I always have to go back and re-read a story once the update after a long while anyway.

Also, I normally don't do this, but I apologize for the wait on this chapter.

Chapter 5: Fighting To Stand

_Heavy gunfire filled the hot air. Yells from wild voices that carried commands and cries of surprise added to the deafening noise. Fountains of sand exploded in the air as soldiers from both sides dodged thrown projectiles. Every once in a while, more so on the enemies' side, a cry of pain was heard. The smell of sweat and blood hung around in the stagnant air._

"_Epps!" a voice roared through the loud noises of battle. Lennox, in full combat uniform and carrying a heavy pack, agilely made his way over to his friend._

"_Epps! Take Fig, Wayne, and Don and circle around these guys. If you go to the left, there's enough cover," Lennox said hurriedly into the man's ear. "The rest of us will spread out on this side. When your in position, contact me, and we'll rush 'em. There can't be that many of them left."_

_Epps nodded silently as he gasped for cool air that was nonexistent. He finished off his current round of ammunition and then looked to his left. He motioned to the three other men who followed after him as he slowly ducked around the shattered remains of the stone building._

_Lennox watched him for a moment out of the corner of his eye before he focused back on reloading his gun with a fresh magazine. He attempted to gain back his breath for a few more moments before he had to run again. Then, with a quick glance for enemy guns in his direction, he was off. He made his way over to two of his men, Rodney and Jim, who had taken refuge from the barrage of bullets behind a piece of stone wall. Between the firing of their weapons, he explained the current strategy. The two men, out of breath as well, agreed, only able to nod. Jim split up from Rodney and rushed to find another piece of stone wall to hide behind._

_Lennox glanced around for Jenn and finally spotted her hashing it out with a stray member of the enemy squad they were fighting. She would peek out above the top of her short piece of wall and fire off a few rounds then scramble back behind it when the man took his shots at her. The man finally got fed up with playing cat and mouse and he stood up. He ran toward where she hid, gun held ready for when she peeked out again. Quickly glancing around the side, she briefly spotted his boots coming closer. She took a deep breath and then abruptly stood, surprising the advancing man. She plugged a few rounds in his chest._

_The man immediately dropped to the sand, dead._

_Jenn ducked back behind her barricade to avoid being seen by more enemy eyes. Lennox came out from behind the column he had taken refuge behind and ran in a half crouch. He slammed his back into the sand colored bricks next to her. She jerked in surprise at his sudden appearance and he grinned at her boyishly despite their surroundings._

"_I saw that move," he commented between gasps, "Nice."_

_She gave him a look mixed with a smile and exasperation. She was about to reply when something flew over their heads. A grenade, in a case of terrible aim from a enemy grenade launcher, landed behind a few large bricks about twenty feet away from them. A look of shock crossed their sweaty, dirt-smudged faces and their eyes went wide._

_There was no time to move._

_Lennox grabbed the back of her head and pulled it around to face the short brick wall they were behind. They both turned their torsos, plugged their ears, and hunched down close together. They didn't have to wait long._

_BANG!_

_The two felt pieces of rock and a cloud of sand fall over them. But because of their vests, no sharp shrapnel pierced their skin. They both waited until the sand cloud settled a bit before opening their eyes and looking at each other._

"_You good?" Jenn asked him, a smile no longer on her dirty face._

_He swallowed, "Yeah. You?"_

"_Alright."_

_Lennox looked over to where the grenade had gone off. "Must of been a close range one then."_

"_Yeah, luckily," Jenn gasped out. She took a chance to look over their wall, gun ready just in case. Not spotting anyone aiming in their direction or getting a good view of an enemy soldier, she sat back down. But she still held her gun ready._

"_Alright, here's the plan," he started, glancing around on his own, "Epps took Fig, Don, and Wayne and circled around behind. The rest of us are gonna spread out and then we'll rush in on my signal."_

"_Sounds like a plan, Scrawny," she said, giving him a close-lipped smile._

_It was his turn to give her a look, one of mild annoyance. She cleared her throat and looked to her right._

"_Okay, you stay here then and I'll go to the right. Behind that busted column," she said, getting up to make a quick run for it. But before she got far, he yanked her back down._

"_Are you nuts? There's barely anything over there for a barricade." he yelled heatedly in her face._

"_Maybe for you!" she burst out, "Look, if we're going to rush them, we gotta have them surrounded on all sides. No area for them to run out of." _

_Another grenade blew up on the enemy side and they flinched on instinct._

"_I can hide behind things you can't," she continued, "So stay. Wait on Epps' signal." Without waiting for a reply, she took off in a half-crouch. _

"_Jenn!" he yelled, frustrated._

_She skidded to a stop behind the column and roughly leaned against it. She glanced a couple times around the side and cocked her gun, ready for the upcoming attack._

_He sighed and grumbled to himself,"Whose in charge again?..." he checked his own gun. "If we make it out of this, I'm gonna kill her..."_

_Static came out of the radio clipped to his vest. _

"Lennox?"

_He put his radio to his mouth, "Yeah, Epps?"_

"We're in position. Waiting on your signal,"_ came Epps' whispered reply._

"_Alright. Standby."_

_He looked over at Jenn and nodded at her when their eyes locked, silently telling her to be prepared. He saw her take in a few deep breaths._

"_Rodney?" Lennox spoke again into his radio. Rodney's reply came in a few seconds._

"We're in position."

"_Good."_

_Lennox looked and listened hard, waiting on the enemies' gunfire to die down. He stayed crouched down behind the short piece of wall. Finally, a moment came where there was a slight break in the gunfire and he put his radio to his mouth._

"_GO!"_

_He sprang up, gun at ready, and propelled himself over the short wall. He landed on his feet heavily, but continued to rush forward. Surprised at the suddenly appearing soldiers, the enemy team began to retreat, but stopped when they realized more American soldiers were closing in behind them. Commands in a foreign language once again filled the unmoving air. Lennox counted six of the enemy left in total and he watched as they began to fire rapidly. _

_Lennox trained the sight of his gun on the man closest to him and plugged a couple bullets into his chest. The man collapsed against a pile of busted bricks. Lennox ran past him, continuing the strategy. _

_Out of the corner of her eye, Jenn saw him take out the man as she ran. Looking beyond the enemy soldiers, she saw Epps, Don, Wayne, and Fig rushing forward with their guns pointed at the enemy men and firing when the got a clear shot. She saw two of the enemy men stagger back and fall. Two more men of the enemy team stood facing the oncoming soldiers._

_Jenn continued to run forward. She spotted a piece of stone wall near the backs of the enemy and headed right for it, thinking she could take cover briefly behind that. Her boot-clad feet pounded on the soft ground and sent up sprays of sand as she ran. She could hear herself panting over the loud pops of gunfire. Sweat beaded on her face and drenched the roots of her hair._

_She was almost to the stone wall now, just a few feet away, when without any warning, an enemy soldier popped up from behind the wall. _

_His gun was in the air. Locked on her._

_She began to slow down and aimed her gun, index finger extending...just as he pulled his own trigger. A red hot pain exploded above her right hip and she felt herself lock up. She couldn't breath regularly, so she seethed in a tight breath. The man in front of her smiled sadistically. He knew he had hit her good. His smile grew and he raised his gun higher, preparing to shoot her again. To kill her. _

_She steeled herself quickly and fired into the man in front of her, hitting him in the chest. He stumbled back a few feet from the close proximity before crumpling to the ground._

_Jenn glanced around, having to blink a few times, to find that all the enemy men were down. Her team, breathing hard and sweating, looked around cautiously. Rodney and Wayne walked around, hurriedly checking for any survivors._

_She was having trouble breathing. She removed her hand from her gun, relying on its strap to keep the firearm on her person, and clamped it on her side under her thick combat vest. She closed her eyes in pain but kept a steady amount of pressure on her side. She felt hot liquid squeeze in between her fingers._

_Blood._

_Her eyes flashed open in panic. For a few moments, she thought her combat vest had stopped the bullet, but apparently she had been too close to the enemy's gun. The bullet had been traveling too fast and torn right through._

_Looking up, she saw that Fig was the closest man to her. He stood with his back to her, furiously trying to pick sand out of his eyes and grumbling to himself in Spanish. In the rush, he had tripped and fallen into the sand, getting the hot grains all over his face. Jenn tried to steady her breathing and prepared her voice._

"_Fig," she said weakly. He didn't hear her. He began to move away. "Fig, no," she said even quieter. _

"_Alright," Lennox's voice rang out after doing a quick headcount of his men. Jenn looked over at him through scrunched eyes."Let's move out!" Immediately, the men ran out of the demolished building behind him. Epps got on his radio and messaged the command center for their pick up chopper and updating them on their movements._

_The mission had been to come into the believed-to-be-abandoned village by air drop and check into some reports of enemy behavior. But before they could sweep through the ruins, enemies began to fire at them. After radioing in to the command center, they were given permission to engage the shooters. They had been battling for over half a hour and Lennox's team was exhausted. They had been in the intense desert heat for an hour prior to when they engaged in battle. The heat combined with the rushed activity in their heavy combat uniforms had them all drenched in sweat and panting for air._

_Jenn kept her hand down tight on her injury, not daring to look at it now. She then gritted her teeth and followed her team, trying not to jar her hip anymore that necessary. Lennox led his team out of the demolished building, through the near abandoned town and up to edge of the once town. Until they stopped, the team remained on high alert. Any more enemies could suddenly pop out._

_They continued to run until they reached the site where they air-dropped in; outside the low wall that surrounded the abandoned village. The buildings inside the wall, besides a few still standing structures, now lay scattered in rough pieces. _

_Running up here had caused more blood to run through Jenn's fingers. Pulsing waves of pain came from her right side. Her eyes stung from a mix of pain and sweat. She couldn't catch her breath and the hot, stagnant air wasn't helping. She watched with slightly blurred vision as Lennox turned to look at his men. A smile finally came onto his face and he took in the mens' faces: smiles of relief. A few of them turned and hugged each other in happiness that they had all survived. They had all made it out._

_Jenn continued to stand to the side in shock, hardly able to take in short breaths. _

_Through her wavering vision, she saw Epps come up behind Lennox and clap his shoulder before giving him a rough noogie. Laughing, Lennox shoved him away and mock punched his arm. Over to the side, a hooting Don and Fig, locked in a tight hug, attempted to squeeze the life out each other._

_Jenn wanted to cry out in pain, but she couldn't make a sound. She couldn't catch her breath._

_Lennox ran to his men and gave each one a man hug, pulling their clasped hands to his chest. Epps stood off to the side, communicating with the base again on his radio. Wayne rushed up behind him and boxed at his shoulders, laughing his belly-laugh._

_Jenn still stood stiff, gasping. She felt more hot liquid run down the back of her thigh._

_Blood. _

_She put more pressure into her side and moved her eyes to stare at the ground. She could barely see what her team was doing because of her shaking vision. The moving objects combined with her moving vision were making her nauseous. She wanted to get their attention; she needed help, but she couldn't get enough breath._

_Lennox turned from embracing a still hooting Fig to look for Jenn. She normally was in the middle of their celebration, jumping on their shoulders, giving everyone noogies, kissing their cheeks, kissing his cheek..._

_He abruptly shook his head, getting rid of his thoughts._

_He spotted her far off to the side, standing still. He could see her knees and shoulders trembling slightly. Concerned, his grin faded off as he continued to look at her. He took a step in her direction and then watched in horror as she fell to her knees. Her gaze slowly rose up to his and he saw her eyelids flickering. He continued to trail his gaze downward and saw her hand pressed to her side._

_He saw the bright red running between her fingers._

_Blood. _

_A numbing flash of terror rose up in him._

"_JENN!" he roared, running to her side, shedding his gun and heavy pack. His alarming yell caught the attention of the other men and they all turned in his direction. Their own smiles slipped off their faces as they saw who he was running to: Jenn. Panic flared up in each of them, and, with their own yells of distress, they ran toward her._

"_Jenny!"_

"_Witicky!"_

"_Jenn! No!"_

_Jenn barely registered that Will reach her first. He slid in the sand toward her and grabbed her shoulders to keep her steady. He then helped her get her heavy pack of her back and tossed it. He took her gun strap off her shoulder, laying the loaded firearm down gently to the side. She started to gasp heavily for breath that refused to come._

"_Get a medic!" Will yelled to Epps over his shoulder, "Get a medic!"_

_Epps immediately put the radio to his mouth and began to speak furiously, "Man down! Requesting medevac! Patient care category urgent. Repeat: Man down! Category urgent!"_

"_Jenn," Will began, supporting her back with his arm. Her mouth opened and closed between breaths, but he couldn't make out a sound. He had to put his ear close to her mouth to hear her speak._

"_Will...I can't," she coughed out, "breathe." He felt her lean back heavily on his arm. Scrambling, he tried to maneuver her out of her heavy vest but couldn't grasp the buckles. Don came up behind her._

"_I've got her," he said gently, supporting her back. Will reached around and successfully unclasped the buckles on her side. He quickly slid off her heavy vest._

"_Here," Will said to Don, "lay her down." The two eased her down gently onto the sand and Don laid her head in his lap._

_Will now looked down at her bleeding side and winced at the amount of blood. A thick river of red had bled down her cargo pant leg and a saturated splotch now grew larger on her uniform overshirt in the area over her wound. Before, he couldn't see exactly where her wound was because of her vest. _

_Slowly, Jenn's hand moved across the sand and tried to put pressure on her side, but she couldn't find the strength. Will removed her slack hand and pulled up her shirts enough to reveal the hole. He placed his own hand over it after dusting the sand off and pushed down steadily, applying pressure. He reached into one of the many pockets of his combat vest with his other hand and jerked out a standard, wrapped pad of thick gauze. He ripped open the packet with his teeth and quickly placed the white fabric over her wound, pressing his hand down over it again. Right now, the important thing was to slow the bleeding until the chopper arrived._

_He heard a low groan and looked up at her face. Her eyelids flickered, threatening to close._

"_Jenn," he said in a calm, commanding tone, "just hold on."_

_He put more pressure above her hip._

_Epps rushed up to his side, having to move the other men surrounding their injured comrade out of his way. Rodney and Jim stood outside the cluster, still on guard and holding their guns at ready. With everyone distracted over Jenn being down, they weren't about to take any chances. They were all more vulnerable than before. Still, the two occasionally threw worried glances at Jenn over their shoulders._

"_Chopper's out by a couple minutes," Epps whispered into Will's ear._

_Will pressed his mouth together. His hands were completely covered in her blood and the sand around her right side was turning dark._

"_It better hurry," he stated grimly, "She's lost a lot of blood already and nothings stopping it." He reached one of his hands under her, placed it on the flowing wound on her back, and compressed his hands together._

"_Jenny," Epps said, looking intently at her face, "keep your eyes open, alright? Breathe. You're gonna be okay."_

_Jenn fought to keep her eyes open and fought harder to breathe. The hot air was suffocating now. Hot tears from the pain flowed out of the corners of her eyes, leaving clean trails in the dirt and sweat on her face. Her vision swam before her eyes. She make out the faces of Epps, Don, and Lennox, the ones closest to her, but the rest of her team were blurs._

"_Stay with me," Lennox warned in a serious tone._

"_Stay awake, Jenny. C'mon, now," Epps added, moving around to her other side. He took her hand and kept up with her pulse._

_Her chest heaved rapidly, trying to pull in air. She tried to slow her lungs down, but at this point she couldn't stay in control of her body._

_Fig suddenly turned from the scene and looked in the direction of the base. His eyes moved frantically across the horizon, searching for a helicopter._

_Jenn felt her eyelids unwillingly close for several seconds at a time. She continued to fight to keep them open, but she wanted so bad to let them stay closed. She began to tremble all over._

"_Jenn!" Will said. He tried to speak in a calm voice, but panic still managed to show."Jenn! Stay with me!"_

_She continued to gasp for air, but she just couldn't find it. She felt her feet begin to go numb and cold._

"_I see it! There's the helicopter!" Fig screamed while pointing at a black dot that grew every second. "Hey!" he yelled while jumping up and waving his arms, "Right here!"_

"_You hear that, Jenny? Help's almost here," Epps said calmly, moving back a chunk of sweaty hair that had fallen out of her short braid. Her eyes flicked open at the contact and she tried to focus on his face. "Just hang on."_

_Oh, she wanted to sleep. She wanted to close her eyes and fall into a deep sleep. Forget the pain. Forget about having to fight for breath. It was so hard to stay awake._

"_Jenn!"_

_Was that Will? Her eyes slowly roamed to his face to find his lips moving and his eyes boring into hers with desperation._

"_Jenn!"_

_That was all she could hear. Her name. His mouth formed other words, but she couldn't hear them. Just her name. He kept saying it over and over. Her eyes flickered shut._

"_JENN!"_

_Yeah, that was Will's voice._

"_No, Jenn! Stay with me!"_

_The cool darkness covered her and she slipped into it._

"No!"

Okay, that's not Will's voice. This voice was different. Still familiar, but different.

"Jenn! Jenn!"

Someone. Saying her name frantically. But not Will...But Will was just screaming her name. She was confused. She groaned.

"Jennifer Witwicky!" the voice yelled, roughly shaking her shoulders, "Get up!"

Oh, it was Sam. Sam's voice. He had horrible breath.

"Wha..?" she questioned, rubbing sleep from her groggy eyes.

"Get up! My car!" he yelled as he ran out of her room. She heard him, still yelling as he ran down the stairs. "No, no, no, no!"

Jenn sleepily rolled over in her bed. She was so tired, she couldn't even remember what Sam had just said. Something about his car? She groaned again and looked up at her ceiling. Her head was hurting and she couldn't tell if it was from her crying spell earlier or her memory-turned-dream. Either way, she was reminded of them; of her team: Will, Epps, Fig, Donnie, Wayne, Rodney, Jim.

She felt her eyes sting as their faces popped into her mind. But before her thoughts could go any further, she shut them down. She rolled over again and curled back up, clutching her blankets.

She was struggling to keep her eyes open._ Her eyelids flickered, threatening to close._

She let sleep take her again. _The cool darkness covered her and she slipped into it._

* * *

Sam, following his yellow Camaro, furiously peddled his bike down the darkened suburban street.

"Where you going with my car, buddy? Where you going?" he mumbled to himself. He whipped his phone out of his sweatshirt pocket and dialed 911.

A woman answered on the second ring,_ "911. What is your emer-?"_

"Hello?"

"_...Yes?"_

"911 emergency! My car has been stolen!" the youngest Witwicky said hurriedly. He didn't hear the woman say anything, so he took it as a good sign and continued.

"I am in pursuit! I need all units, the whole squadron. Bring_ everyone_!" Sam was pretty determined to get back his car. His first car. This car jacker wasn't getting his Camaro without a fight.

"_Sir, are you sure okay? Where are you?"_

"No, don't ask me questions, all right? My father's the head of the neighborhood watch! My sister is in the Air Force!"

The woman on the line was silent for a minute. Then, she sighed and spoke again. _"Where are you, sir?"_

"I'm on Groves Avenue. Heading into the old scrap yard. Bring _everyone_!"

With that, he shut his phone and shoved it back into his pocket. He watched intently as the driver of _his _Camaro rammed right through the old metal gates. The car accelerated and disappeared out of sight just as a train, hauling a few old rail cars, crossed the tracks. He peddled faster.

Coming close to the railroad tracks, he abandoned his bike and waited impatiently. Once the caboose passed, he hurried across and looked for any sign of a yellow car. As he passed behind a pile of scrap and tires, movement caught his eye. In utter shock, he watch as a _thing _stood up next to the old silo. A beam of bright light shone out of its chest and up to the clouds. The giant-robot-thing, Sam wasn't sure what to call it, looked as if it was made from car parts. Yellow car parts.

Sam jumped as he realized: The robot was his car. His car was standing. His car was alive.

Sam pulled out his phone for the second time that night and crouched down. Flipping it open, he started a video recording.

"My name is Sam Witwicky. Whoever finds this, my car is alive, okay?" he lifted his phone over the pile of scrap so the camera could get a view of the robot. "You saw that? Since this is my last words on Earth, I just wanna say: Mom, Dad, I love you. And if you find Busty Beauties under my bed, it wasn't mine, don't let Jenn kill me...Again. I'm holding it for Miles," he winced, stopping his lie. "No, no, wait that...Okay, that's not true. It's mine and Uncle Charles gave it to me. Jenn, you're the best sister ever and I just wanted to let you know that I killed your lizard, Mr. Speckles, when I was in fourth grade. Accidentally! Mojo, I love you."

He snapped the device shut and began to creep out of his hiding spot to investigate. He only walked a few steps before he stopped short. Two very angry looking pitbulls were lying by a brick wall, staring straight at him with hungry gazes.

"Good doggies! Good boys!" Sam squeaked. That's all it took for the dogs to take off after him. It was just not his night.

Immediately, Sam broke into a fast run. "No! No! No! No!" he screamed as he sprinted into an old silo. The dogs, now madly barking, followed close on his trail. Sam panted as he raced to the middle where an old metal drum and a few tires stood. He climbed on top of the pile and danced around, trying to keep his feet away from the snapping jaws.

A bright light shone into the old structure as his car, now in automobile form, pulled in to the silo. The two dogs ran off when the car accelerated in their direction and revved its engine menacingly. Sam watched from his perch, just as frightened as the dogs. He put his hands in the air to surrender.

"Please, please don't kill me!" he said as the Camaro began to circle around him.

"I'm sorry! Take the keys!" Sam fished his keys out of his pocket and chucked them at the car's windshield. "I don't want them! Car's yours!" He hurriedly jumped down and sprinted out of the silo, almost tripping in his rush. He was about to turn a corner and head back to his bike when a police cruiser crossed his path. Once again, bright headlights were shining into his face. Sam skidded to a stop in the loose dirt.

"Good, you're here," he was able to pant out. The two cops opened their door and stepped out. But before Sam could blink, they had their guns pointed in his direction.

"Let me see your hands!" one of them commanded.

"No, no, no!" Sam urged, raising his hands again, "It's not me! The guy's inside."

"Shut up!" the other cop said with a booming voice. He came around his open door and walked toward Sam, still holding up his gun. "Walk towards the car."

Sam, with no other choice at the moment, gave in and put his hands on the back of his head. The teenager stiffly walked to the cruiser, his knees hitting the bumper.

"Put your head on the hood."

Sam rammed his head down on the car's hood. A dull ache began in his forehead and he closed his eyes.

"Great," he muttered.

It really just wasn't his night.

* * *

"Look," Sam explained slowly, motioning with his hands, "I can't be any clearer than how crystal clear I am being. It just stood up," he finished with finality.

"It just stood up," the bearded detective repeated. His partner, standing behind Sam, shook his head. They both thought that this kid was crazy.

"Wow, that's really neat," the detective continued. "Okay, chiefie," he said, picking up a tissue and a small plastic container. He held the items out to Sam and the teenager took them hesitantly. "Time to fill 'er up. And no drippy-drippy."

Sam just stared at him.

"What are you rolling? Whippets? Goofballs?" the detective listed off, "A little wowie sauce with the boys?"

"No," Sam stated, "I'm not on any drugs."

"What's these?" the detective held up his hand and, while not looking, caught a pill bottle his partner threw to him. "Found it in your pocket," he sniffed as he read the label, "'Mojo.' Is that what the kids are doing now? Little bit of Mojo?"

"Those are my dog's pain pills," Sam explained, agitated. He would never do drugs. His parents would kick his tail if they found out. And he didn't even want to know what Jenn would do to him. Could do. He shivered, getting scared.

The detective looked over to Ron, who had been at the police station since the two officer had brought Sam in. It was now six in the morning and the poor man looked ready to fall down.

"You know, a Chihuahua," Ron confirmed with a nod. He motioned with his hands, "A little..."

The detective sighed and rubbed his face. He leaned his elbow down onto his thigh but paused as he saw Sam look at his gun warily. He grinned and held up his hand, "Whoa, what was that?"

"Hm?" Sam asked, raising his eyebrows. His eyes flashed between the guy's face and his gun. The detective pulled the side of his leather jacket open and pointed at his gun.

"You eyeballing my piece, 50 Cent? You wanna go?" he said, smile growing. "Make something happen. Do it," he leaned in close to Sam. "'Cause I promise you, I will bust you up."

Sam leaned away from the man and stared up at him. "Are you on drugs?"

* * *

This friggin' chapter started off being TWENTY TWO pages in my word processor. _TWENTY TWO pages. _And I was rather proud of those twenty two pages. I worked hard on them. So hard, my butt went numb from sitting in one spot for so long...on multiple occasions. And my eyes are currently like this: (o_0) from staring at the computer screen for so long. But, I thought that all that story mass was a little much to digest in one whopping chapter. And I had a lot of action scenes so it would probably get crazy. Soooo, I split it up. In other words, expect an update rather soon.

Every chapter title, however odd they may be, has a meaning behind them in my fanfictions. I get my inspiration from select words and/or themes that are in the chapter. The title of this chapter came to be because it has several meanings that go along with what happens in this chapter.

In the first scene, Jenn is obviously having a flashback/dream wherein she was shot on a mission. So, literally, she was _Fighting To Stand_.

Later on, when Sam has discovered that his car is _standing. _(Finally!)

Lastly, when poor Ron has been in the police station for Sam and is so tired he can barely _stand_.


End file.
